A house that keeps its own shade

The brief was short: a family home that would stay cool without machines and feel calm in August. We began with the sun path, not the floor plan, and set every opening by the hour it should receive light.

Two concrete roof plates slide past each other and overhang the terraces by up to four metres. Board-marked formwork, cast with local pine, leaves a grain on the walls that catches low light in the evening.

We wanted the house to feel finished on the day it was built, and better in twenty years.

Material and climate

Thick walls give the rooms thermal mass; cross ventilation through the patio does the rest. The only finish inside is lime plaster, oiled oak and the concrete itself.